Canadian CFI under NAFTA?
 

Hey guys,

It seems like the US CFI job market is a lot hotter than the Canadian one right now. I've been doing a bit of research and it seems like Canadians can get a 2 Year NAFTA Visa to come in to work as a "teacher". State Dept. website says that all you need to qualify is a qualification related to the job (FI Rating, & Aviation Diploma), and an offer letter from your desired place of employment.

Does anyone know if this would even work or if the flight schools would be willing to write such a letter? Keep in mind this is not a sponsorship, they do not need to file anything with the Dep. of Labor or pay USCIS, all they have to do is write the offer letter. Also, the flight school would pretty much have a guarantee of not leaving the company for the 2 years, since you can't leave for a regional because only "teachers" are qualified, and going to another flight school would be a mountain of paperwork.

Thanks for any insight.

Do you have a FAA CFI? I'm sure there are possibly multiple schools that would give you an offer letter for a 2 year commitment if you don't need extra training. If you only have a Canadian CFI, they likely wouldn't bother (US CFI is a pain in the ass to get).

I haven't done my CFI rating yet, I was planning on converting my Canadian CPL to an FAA one, and then getting my rating done somewhere in the US.

Generally speaking, the TN Visa through NAFTA requires a specialized degree. i.e. you may have trouble claiming you're a teacher if you don't have a B.Ed, even if you have a flight instructor rating. There's an argument to be made but I'm not sure how border services would respond.

I do believe that there are ways for instructors to remain in the US at the school they did their training at. Unfortunately I am not sure of the visa classification, but I know of a few Canadians who did their flight training and degree at Universities in the US and then instructed with the same University.